Disappointed, angry and disgusted, that’s how Saskatoon’s Royal Stevens felt after being the victim of a bear spray attack in mid-October.

On Oct. 16, Stevens and his father were returning from a road trip and stopped at a gas station on Fairlight Drive.

As Stevens filled his car with gas, he heard people on the corner of the building joking and saying, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we sprayed these guys?”

Moments later, Stevens looked up and saw bear spray near his face.

Listen to Shane Clausing’s report on bear spray:

“I don’t know if it was a male or a female. They were wearing dark pants and I saw the dark can and I told my dad to get in the car,” he explained.

He yelled to his dad that they were going to get bear sprayed.

“That was the last thing I said before the blast hit us. Everyone was laughing. I took the brunt of it and my dad didn’t,” Stevens said. “Thank God because he is old and has cancer.”

His father took the wheel and the two booked it away from the gas station. Eventually, they stopped in a safe place to get their bearings.

Stevens said someone doing something as childish as spraying people with bears for a laugh was ridiculous.

“It’s disappointing. I would never think of doing this to another human…you never know what underlying conditions they might have.

Stevens said it was the first time he had been attacked like this. He did not report the incident to the police because he did not think they would respond.

“We never even thought about reporting it to the police because we have already heard about the police response time to incidents like this,” he added.

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More than 3,000 bear spraying incidents in Saskatchewan.

Stevens’ story has become increasingly common in Saskatchewan communities.

According to the province, police have responded to more than 3,000 bear spraying incidents over the past five years. However, this figure could be much higher if unreported cases are taken into account.

THE The Saskatchewan government created new rules in March to be tougher on those who abuse bear spray in public.

It is now illegal to deface or modify bear spray or carry it in urban public spaces like shopping malls, movie theaters and city parks.

The new rules say people charged with a bear spray offense could face fines of up to $100,000.

“They are intended to provide police and wildlife officers with an additional tool to seize bear spray and charge people with possession of bear spray,” said Bronwyn Eyre, former justice minister and state attorney general. Saskatchewan, in an interview with 650 CKOM.

“Previously, law enforcement could only go after criminal use of bear spray, so they could only charge someone if the bear spray had already been used, had already been deployed,” she said.

Eyre was not re-elected as a deputy during last Monday’s provincial elections.

As of October 10, police services across the province have laid approximately 30 charges under the new regulations. It is unclear how many people have pleaded guilty to the charges or the total cost of the fines because each case is still before the courts.

Eyre said she believed the new rules were working because of the “positive feedback” she had received.

“I was in Pennsylvania with a number of colleagues and Mayor (Greg) Dionne publicly thanked us for introducing these regulations, and he certainly feels like it makes a difference,” Eyre said.

“Police chiefs tell me it makes a difference, as do members of the police commissions, and we have been told thank you for introducing these regulations.”

Do Saskatchewan police think it works?

While Eyre is confident the new laws are working, high-ranking police officers who spoke to 650 CKOM say it’s too early to tell.

“What I see is that the legislative additions haven’t really made a difference yet,” said Saskatoon Police Chief Cam McBride.

“There is always a small cultural change to be made. Our members are accustomed to using the Criminal Code to deal with these circumstances where bear repellent is present,” he added.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in the number of charges we’re filing as we head into the fall, but the numbers are still not great. »

Lorilee Davies, Deputy Chief of the Regina Police Service says their officers have laid 15 charges since the law came into effect.

“I think it gives our officers just another option,” Davies said. “Have we seen a huge climate change from bear spray? Probably not, but it’s still pretty early.

“In Saskatchewan, we know that bear spray has a legitimate purpose. The problem we are seeing is ease of access and we don’t know if the fine imposed at the end of the charge under the new provincial legislation will have a deterrent effect,” McBride said.

“We are monitoring this closely and we will see what kind of sanctions will come from these charges as they progress through the courts. And then we will see if the sanction which is becoming commonplace is really dissuasive or not?

Both say bear spray remains too easy to access and that more needs to be done to deter purchases.

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